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The painting graced the cover of Country Gentleman magazine in the summer of 1976, commissioned by the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center to celebrate Wayne’s induction into the Hall of Great Western Performers.

While best known for his animated pictures of everyday life in America, Norman Rockwell also had an enduring connection with Hollywood. He painted a number of movie illustrations and posters, including the 1966 remake of Stagecoach - the original 1939 film that… [Read More]

“Mad Anthony” Wayne raised a militia unit at the beginning of the Revolutionary War and participated in the invasion of Canada. He fought in the Battle of Trois-Rivières, and led forces at Fort Ticonderoga and Mount Independence. “Mad Anthony” Wayne fought at Brandywine in 1777, then harassed British General Howe as his troops marched towards Pennsylvania. He fought at Germantown, and quartered the winter at Valley Forge.

In 1778, Wayne attacked at the Battle of Monmouth, and in 1779, he led a… [Read More]

In the popular imagination of John “Duke” Wayne, there’s a soft side to him that goes unpraised: the delicious romantic, the cool hipster or relaxed compadre who doesn’t want to get in anyone’s way. We tend to think of Wayne as a prowling neon sign of America, an uncomplicated cliche: a hard, indestructible cowboy, more mythic than mortal (think of that unbearably hammy Rooster Cogburn in “True Grit”), a self-appointed symbol for “justice” in a West that, in the pervasive… [Read More]

In 1970 the publicity machine was knocking itself dead, extolling Howard Hawks's "Rio Lobo" even before it was finished. Much was made of Hawks being reunited with saddle pard John Wayne, with whom he made classics such as "Red River" and "Rio Bravo," among other films.

Journalist George Plimpton (who scored a cameo) did a TV documentary on "Rio Lobo" and Hawks, thus pushing expectations even closer to the stratosphere. Sadly, "Rio Lobo" was a huge disappointment, even to hardcore Wayne and… [Read More]

Wild Goose, the late actor’s 136-foot World War II minesweeper turned pleasure craft, now sits in miniature inside a case at the Lido House hotel.

The roughly 5-foot-long illuminated model is a statement piece in the hotel’s lobby, showing the boat in fine detail down to the outboard motor of its tender, the stripes on its life rings, and a green card table, a nod to one of Wayne’s pastimes.

In celebration of John Wayne Day and John Wayne's birthday, Hornblower cruises in Newport Beach is offering cruises aboard his former yacht the Wild Goose. You can tour the staterooms, meet Captain Bert Minshall.